Cyberattack forces Georgia county to sever connection to state voter registration system

A CISA spokesperson referred questions Friday evening to Coffee County. A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CyberScoop first reported on the incident.

Ransomware attacks have roiled state and local governments across the US in recent years, and Georgia is no exception. Fulton County, home to Atlanta, suffered a crippling ransomware attack in January that disrupted county computers for weeks, downing phone lines and delaying water bill payments. That hack did not affect the county’s election process.

But federal officials have long been concerned about the potential for ransomware attacks on state and local governments to disrupt voting. US Cyber Command, the military’s hacking unit, has previously conducted cyber operations against ransomware criminals that could threaten election infrastructure.